


Wheat Kings and Pretty Things

by Jongley



Category: Men's Hockey RPF
Genre: Accidental Outing, Dumb Hockey Boys, Friends to Lovers, Implied/Referenced Homophobia, Jealousy, M/M, Minor Injuries, Mutual Pining, Not Actually Unrequited Love, Not Beta Read, Pining, Podfic Available, dumbass4dumbass, just patty's eternal struggle to have a body that obeys him, no on screen injuries, no one reacts badly and everyone's okay but tagging just to be safe, nolan patrick's rosy cheeks, nothing gratuitous but someone is outed w/o prior knowledge/consent
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-06
Updated: 2020-03-06
Packaged: 2021-03-12 21:47:18
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 15,363
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23021488
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jongley/pseuds/Jongley
Summary: Holy shit.Patty totally had a crush on Toews. And Toews maybe liked him back.Holy fucking shit.TK was thundering down the stairs and into the garage before he had even completed the thought, was buckled in with his key in the ignition when he realized he should probably call ahead, not—they didn't live in the same building anymore. Nolan might be, like, busy....(In which Travis Konecny stalks Nolan Patrick's Spotify account, finds Jonathan Toews' playlist, and leaps to conclusions.)
Relationships: Nolan Patrick/Jonathan Toews - Implied, Travis Konecny/Nolan Patrick
Comments: 37
Kudos: 433





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> the last time i posted a serious fic it was about maximum ride (remember that series? lol) and published on ff.net, just so you know what you're getting into, here.
> 
> this pulls inspiration from a lot of stuff, including [this article](https://www.nhl.com/news/nolan-patrick-took-part-in-jonathan-toews-training-camp/c-291740202) tk mentions, and of course jolach's fic [how winning is done](https://archiveofourown.org/works/17926088). if you've somehow found this fic without reading theirs, please do yourself a favor and check it out.
> 
> title, of course, is from [this song](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=agr_wTBvhJs) (links to lyric video, a relic from a simpler time)

It was easy to see the positive impact that being able to skate with the team again was having on Nolan, Travis thought, as he got back to his apartment after practice. Patty was clearly glad to be around the boys more often, and to be ramping his workouts back up.

He was also barely holding it together, TK was pretty sure.

Patty was still in a no-contact jersey at practices, wasn’t usually traveling with the team, and AV was talking about Patty doing a conditioning stint in Lehigh but hadn’t actually sent him down yet. And all the while, the end of the regular season was fast approaching, and Nolan still hadn’t played any games.

The team was doing their best to be supportive, but, like, quietly; TK in particular was choking down roughly fourteen variations on the question “How are you?” every time he saw Patty. Nolan had even told the media how frustrating the incessant questions about his health were, and Nolan never told the media anything if he could get away with it—unless, of course, he was too emotional to control himself.

So TK was being good, and not asking Patty how he was, but he still wanted to know, and he was having trouble getting answers.

He’d tried asking Kevin, who laughed at him the first few times he asked, but then had started shrugging and looking at TK all pitying, which stung, and made him stop asking. The rest of the guys saw Patty even less than TK did, so they were useless. Coach didn’t know, and was too intimidating to approach anyways; Patty didn’t post anything personal on social media (even his finsta was just, like, weirdly close-up pics of his hairy leg tattoos), Patty’s sisters were busy with school, and more often than not it was Patty’s mom texting _TK_ for updates, because Patty was allergic to talking about his feelings with literally anyone, up to and including his own parents.

TK sighed as he dropped onto the couch. It was time for him to stalk Patty’s Spotify account.

When he pulled it up, TK was greeted by the last few playlists Nolan had followed, and, right there at the top of the list was: _Jonathan Toews Playlist_ by _nhlblackhawks_, with a surprisingly artsy shot of the top of Toews' helmet set as the cover picture. Clearly made by Chicago's PR team, then. TK raised his eyebrows as he clicked through to see the list of songs; this was exactly the type of hipster, faux-indie shit he'd expect a guy like Toews to listen to.

Fuckin’ prairie boys. They were all sad sacks who listened to too much indie rock.

Chrissakes, there were two different songs by The Head and the Heart just in the top five, and one by The Tragically Hip, which, _be more Canadian, Jonathan_, TK thought ungenerously. Listening to that band was like the epitome of being a stereotypical thirty-something Canadian who liked alt rock.

Travis kept scrolling down the playlist, his eyebrows steadily climbing his forehead. Some of the songs were alright—a couple were absolute bangers, actually, credit where it was due—but there was also an Incubus song, which TK would chirp the guy for if he actually, like, knew him.

TK snorted as he spied another Tragically Hip song near the bottom of the playlist—Toews was a _parody of himself, seriously_—but then he noticed the title. It was called “Wheat Kings,” which was... an interesting choice, Travis mused.

It could be a genuine coincidence; Toews clearly liked the band, and maybe it was a really good song. The Wheat Kings also played in the WHL, in Manitoba, near where Toews was from. That meant it was also where Nolan was from, though, and had obviously been Nolan’s Junior team. And sure, maybe Toews liked the song because it reminded him of home, but Travis had read the article about Toews and Patty’s bromance, alright. And Travis didn't believe in coincidences, at least not when it came to dumbshit hockey bros. None of them were smart enough for any kind of subtlety. Ever.

Add in the fact that Nolan had clearly followed the playlist—probably listened to it, too—and TK was... not sure how he felt about all this. Conflicted, certainly, because, like, it was fucking awesome that Nolan’s buddies with Toews, with a _three time Stanley Cup winner_, but also, like, Travis was... a little jealous, maybe. Nolan had never followed any of _Travis'_ Spotify playlists.

(The fact that his own "Patty" playlist was set to secret had nothing to do with it, and everything to do with how many sad sack indie songs he put on it because they reminded him of Nolan. Travis might not be any more subtle than any given hockey bro, but at least he was self aware.)

Travis bit his lip and, before he could overthink it, tapped play on “Wheat Kings,” then opened a new tab and pulled up the lyrics while the song started playing through his speaker. It began with some weird-ass... nature sounds, or whatever, which, what even?

Then the guitar came in, and then the lyrics finished loading right as vocals started, and, yeah, this seemed like an apt description of Manitoban landscape, not that Travis had spent a lot of time there. The bit about a "killer's face" was a little dark, and the line "Besides, no one's interested in something you didn't do" seemed depressing as hell in the context of Nolan’s injury history. Travis didn’t like it.

The second verse wasn’t any happier, either, sheesh. Travis was so focused on the general emo vibe that it took until the next time the chorus repeated for him to realize the words being sung were just, "Wheat kings and pretty things." That was—well.

Nolan wasn’t not-pretty, that was for sure.

Travis wondered if _Jonathan_ would agree.

Travis focused back on the song when he heard, "You can't be fond of living in the past, ‘cause if you are then there's no way that you're gonna last." The second half of the chorus was, "Let's just see what tomorrow brings," and, there was no way this song couldn’t make Travis think of Nolan. Nolan, sitting out this season, betrayed by his body yet again, trying to move forward and not wallow in his past but only so successful at it when his future was so unpredictable.

It was hard for Travis not to think that Toews had included this song as some kind of—what, nod to Nolan, or something? TK shook his head. That was reading too much into things, even for him. Sure, it made TK think of Patty, but that didn’t mean it would remind _Jonathan_ of Patty, too. What, did Jonathan somehow know Nolan would find this playlist, would listen to it, would maybe even follow it—but, Nolan did follow it, TK remembered suddenly. That was why TK had seen it in the first place. Holy shit.

Holy shit.

Patty totally had a crush on Jonathan Toews. And Toews maybe liked him back.

_Holy fucking shit._

TK was thundering down the stairs and into the garage before he had even completed the thought, was buckled in with his key in the ignition when he realized he should probably call ahead, not—they didn't live in the same building anymore. Nolan might be, like, busy.

TK sighed and scrubbed a hand over his face. Ugh, he hated that they lived in different places now, but once Nolan had accepted Haysie's offer, there hadn't been any point to TK staying in their old building, so he'd—yeah. Provy was a good roommate, at least. Whatever. Travis turned the car on, connected his phone to the car stereo, and dialed Patty as he backed out of the garage and into the driveway.

"Yeah?" Nolan's voice was scratchy and deeper than usual when he finally picked up. TK's voice came out soft, even though he'd been so heated a couple seconds ago. "Hey bud," he said, "Sorry, did I wake you up?"

"Yeah, but no worries. Alarm was gonna go off soon anyways," Nolan said, voice still slow and sleepy.

TK smiled. "Mind if I come hang for a bit, then?" he asked, adding, "Anything you want me to grab on the way?"

Patty snorted, amused. "You're already on the way, aren't you?"

"Duh," TK said, "but I only, like, just pulled out onto the main street."

Nolan chuckled and said, "Alright, c'mon over, then. Stop by Wawa for soft pretzels first?"

"You got it, babe," TK said, glad there was something tangible he could do to make Nolan feel better, even if it was just buying him junk food. "See you in like fifteen."

"See ya." TK heard Nolan's sheets start rustling as he presumably moved to get up before he hung up. TK’s smile stretched into a grin, and he put on his blinker to pull into Wawa.

... 

TK, in what should not be news to anyone, had the attention span of a concussed goldfish. His trip to Wawa on the way to Patty's, and Patty's slow, tired grin and sleepy chirps while they ate and played 'chel, had thoroughly distracted TK from his original mission, which was: interrogate Patty about his relationship with Jonathan.

Or, well, not interrogate, because that'd get Patty to shut down immediately, but, like, gently prod, and drop hints. He'd have to play the long game, or Patty’d catch on and clam up, but it'd be worth it. It always was, with Patty.

So it took Travis by surprise when, one day on the way home from the rink (because Nolan was practicing with the team, now, sometimes, and they could carpool again, and Travis felt like the golden retriever Patty liked to accuse him of being, he was so hype about it), and Nolan spoke during a lull in the conversation.

Nolan pretty much never initiated conversation, so TK automatically perked up, on alert, just from that. And then Nolan's words hit him: "There's this song a buddy sent me, wanna hear it?" and he couldn't mean—there was no way—_be cool, Travis_, TK told himself. _Ice cool_.

"Sure, yeah, play it," he said, nodding, and those faint fucking nature sounds filled the car for a few seconds before the guitar started.

TK tried to school his face, look mildly curious and interested instead of completely shocked, because he couldn't let Nolan know he stalked his Spotify, even if he got distracted by the first playlist and forgot to actually figure out how Nolan was doing, like, mentally—not because it was like, weird, or anything, for TK to check it out, but just because Patty would probably, like, make fun of him for being worried, or something.

Yeah, it was totally normal stuff, stalking your bro's Spotify account, just like how TK had notifications turned on for Patty's Insta feed so he could see his pics as soon as they were posted, and... be able to chirp him in a timely manner. Sure.

TK rolled his eyes at himself. God, he had it bad.

The song was already on, like, the third verse by the time TK tuned back in to what was happening in the car, and he flicked a glance over at Nolan, curled up small in the passenger seat, wet hair peeking out from his beanie and brushing against his nape. Patty wasn't looking at TK; he was staring intently down at his phone instead, even though he wasn't doing anything with it, and biting his lower lip into his mouth, worrying at the chapped skin.

He looked nervous, TK thought.

It was a little flattering, maybe, that Patty valued Travis’ opinion enough to get anxious about it, but also, TK didn't ever want to make Patty feel like that because of him, so TK said, "Cool song. I like it," flashing Patty a quick grin, when he finally looked up from his phone.

"Yeah?" Nolan asked, hesitant, so TK started nodding his head enthusiastically, saying, "Yeah, man! I really dig it. The nature sounds at the beginning were a little weird, but still like, interesting? And I like the lead guitar part, too."

Patty smiled a little, a blush starting in his cheeks. TK loved making him look like that.

Aiming for casual and probably missing, Travis asked, "Who'd you say sent it to you?" and pretended to focus on the road much more than he needed to while driving straight down the freeway in no traffic.

Patty hesitated for a second, then said, "Jonathan." He cleared his throat, "Toews, that is."

TK nodded some more, refrained from making a James Bond joke, and sternly reminded himself to _be chill_.

"Oh, neat," he said. "I didn’t know you guys were still in touch?" Nolan hadn't told him much about Jonathan except for how they spent the summer after Patty's draft training by a lake. Travis was decidedly not jealous. That would be weird.

"Uh, yeah," Patty said, cheeks flushing more noticeably now. "He's, uh, he's been really good about keeping in touch, especially this season. Lots of advice to give, you know?"

Travis didn't know, actually, but he still nodded and said, "Yeah, for sure. He give you any particularly good tips?"

"I mean, just the usual, like, take it slow, don't rush back, that kind of thing. But he, like, had to sit out a bunch of games a while back for concussion stuff, so he like, gets it."

Travis felt like a bobblehead, he was nodding so much. His smile was starting to feel a little strained, so he let it drop, trying to look thoughtful instead. It was good Nolan had other friends supporting him, Travis told himself. He was glad Patty had people who could intimately relate to his struggles—or, not intimately, actually, Travis didn't like that, but—who could sympathize with Patty's difficulties. There, that was better. Travis didn't know how Patty felt, not really, not about this, and Travis was glad he had people he could lean on. Travis just sometimes wished he could be one of those people, that was all.

"I'm glad he's there for you," Travis said, a little too earnest based on the disgruntled, wet-cat face Nolan made. "No, but seriously," Travis said, "I know it sucks for you, this season, being out and everything, but I don't really get it, 'cus I haven't had to deal with it myself, so—I'm glad you've got somebody to talk you through it, that's all."

Nolan quirked a smile at him, small and genuine before it turned wicked. Travis huffed and rolled his eyes; Patty sucked at talking about emotions, and would start cracking jokes if a conversation got too soft for him. Apparently, he'd reached his threshold. Travis wished he was surprised.

"Did you know Tazer crashed his Mercedes into an "L" support beam when he was trying to play through his concussion?" Patty asked, still smirking.

"What?" Travis asked, whipping his head around to see Patty's face and check if he was lying. "No way, you're joking." Patty's eyes said he wasn't. Travis gasped; "That guy is, like, Crosby levels of hockey robot, though!" he insisted, "There's no way he'd do something as dumb as—"

"He was only like 23 when it happened," Nolan interrupted before Travis could really get going, "and he didn't know how bad the concussion was. I think at the time he said the accident wasn't because of the concussion, but he was telling me a couple weeks ago that, in retrospect, it probably was." Nolan sounded a little... defensive, almost, which, right: he had a crush on the dude. Travis gentled his voice out of respect for Nolan's feelings.

"Still, man, that is fucking wild," he said. "I never would've expected that from him!" He chuckled, then realized—"Wait, you're not going to do any dumb shit like that, right? Because I know it's shitty, and boring, sitting out, but Patty, you can't rush these things, you gotta make sure—"

Nolan interrupted him again. "I know, dude, I know," he said, calm, "that's the whole reason Tazer was telling me the story, to remind me not to rush back, not to play through shit. Message received, I promise." He gestured around them, as if to say, _you’re literally driving me around right now, because I value my health and safety._ Nolan looked sullenly over at Travis. "It's all anyone's telling me, right now. 'Cept, like, some of the fans."

They were nearly at Haysie and Nolan's place; Travis held out his hand to Nolan and instructed, "Gimme your phone."

Nolan hesitated, eyes shifty. "Why?" he asked apprehensively.

"I'm deleting Twitter and Insta from it, right now," Travis replied, voice making it clear he wasn’t fucking around. He pulled his hand back to turn into the driveway and turn the car off before sticking his it back out towards Nolan again.

"What? No way." Nolan was clutching his phone protectively to his chest now; Travis rolled his eyes. What a baby.

"It's for your own good," he explained. "Social media is fucking awful, man, and if fans are gonna use it to shittalk you, then you shouldn't be looking at it. It's all bullshit, anyways."

"Not gonna happen," Nolan said.

TK sighed, and mentally prepared himself to pull out the big guns. "Does _Jonathan_ know you read the comments on your posts and shit? How's he feel about that, huh?"

"He's—he's not my _dad_," Nolan spluttered, wet-cat face in full force. "He wouldn't care, and it's not his business anyways. Just like it's _not yours_."

"I dunno, bud, seems like you two care about each other kind of a lot," TK said, not touching the second part of what Nolan said.

Nolan rolled his eyes, bitchy as ever. "We're just friends," he said, his voice getting defensive again, sounding almost disappointed. "It's not like that."

And with that, as TK gaped at him with his mouth open like some dumb goldfish, Nolan slipped out of the car. Patty mumbled a quick, "Thanks for the ride," before he walked up the path to Kev's front door.

TK sat in the driveway, open-mouthed and unmoving, for a full thirty seconds before he shook it off and drove himself home, mind going a mile a minute.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> yes, jonathan toews did once crash his fancy car into a support beam of the "L" (chicago's metro/subway, except it's mostly above ground). it was around the time he was dealing with concussion issues; the general consensus amongst fans and reporters was the concussion caused, or at least influenced, the crash, and that the crash set back his concussion recovery, but afaik the team/toews continued to deny any link/causation. [here](https://chicago.cbslocal.com/2012/02/23/toews-hits-pole-in-loop-leaves-in-ambulance/) are [some](https://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/ct-xpm-2012-02-23-chi-blackhawks-toews-involved-in-car-accident-20120223-story.html) [articles](https://bleacherreport.com/articles/1098618-jonathan-toews-concussion-ball-dropped-by-captain-and-the-chicago-blackhawks) [about it](https://www.sbnation.com/nhl/2012/2/23/2819736/jonathan-toews-injury-car-accident-autographs-chicago-blackhawks).


	2. Chapter 2

The next week was Valentine’s Day, and TK was over at Kevin's with all the other lonely, single guys on the team. Everyone was chilling in the living room when Travis got there, definitely _not late, Patty_, and they were all drinking and playing video games and trading lazy chirps.

Everyone but—"Where's Patty?" TK asked Kevin. Kevin rolled his eyes. "He's Skyping his boyfriend in his room," he said, and Travis stopped breathing for a second.

"Patty has a boyfriend?" he managed to ask, voice squeaking embarrassingly, and Kevin laughed. "Nah, dude, not that I know of. He Skypes somebody, like, at least once a week, though, always takes his laptop to his room, acts all furtive."

"Nice SAT word, dumbass," Provy chirped from the couch, and waved off the easy "Fuck you" Haysie sent his way in reply.

TK collapsed down into a free chair, tried to regulate his breathing. He straightened up suddenly from his slouch as someone, he couldn't see who, asked, "Hey, wait, did you just say Patty's into dudes?" 

Whoever it was didn't sound judgmental, necessarily, just curious, maybe a little disbelieving.

"Uh... yeah?" Kevin said. "Should I not have? I thought everybody knew."

TK's back went ramrod straight; there was an indignant, "No," about to burst from his lips when G piped up with a, "Dude, what? That is... not common knowledge, what the fuck."

Claude was their You Can Play rep, not just their captain, TK remembered, slumping back down a little but not fully relaxing. G had it under control, probably.

"I mean, he told me, like, right after I got here?" Kevin said, more of a question than a statement. "I figured that, like, if he was telling a guy he barely knew, he must have already told the rest of the team?"

TK felt like he wasn't totally present in his body; he distantly noted the feeling of rage bubbling under his skin. He looked to G, hoping he'd know what to say to diffuse the tension in the room, draw everyone's attention away from Patty's personal business—god, Patty hated other people knowing his business, he was so private, was gonna be so pissed—G still wasn't saying anything, was meeting TK's eyes and looking lost. Jesus, G was supposed to be the _captain_, for fuck's sake; why wasn't he leading them out of this terrible conversation?

And, actually, now that TK thought about it—"Wait," he started, leaning towards his captain, "G, what are you even doing here? I thought this was a sad singles meetup, what the fuck?" He pivoted his head to look indignantly at Kevin, too.

"Oh, uh," Claude began weakly, then continued with more surety, "I got Ryanne a spa day thing for Valentine's. She's out getting, like, pedicures and massages and shit," he said, then hurried to add, "With her friends! Not alone! I'm making her dinner later!" like he could sense the avalanche of chirps headed his way for abandoning his wife on Valentine’s Day.

TK rolled his eyes and got up, heading to the kitchen for a beer. He opened the fridge and stuck his head in while he did one of the deep breathing exercises his mom kept emailing to him. It didn't help. He sighed, grabbed a beer, and shut the fridge, jumping when he turned around and saw G in the kitchen doorway.

"Jesus, warn a guy," TK said, hand to his chest. He didn't just mean sneaking up on unsuspecting teammates in kitchens, and by the chuckle G let out, he knew it, too.

"Sorry," he said, smiling sheepishly. "Wanted to say thanks for bailing me out in there. Nice subject change."

TK's brow furrowed, confused. "What?" he asked.

"Like, when Kevin was outing Nolan—which, so not cool, I'm gonna yell at him after this—I totally froze up ‘cus I was so surprised. You did a good job, distracting everybody’s attention from what Kevin was saying."

"Oh." TK was taken aback. "I didn't—I really was just wondering what you were doing here, dude," he said, too honest. "But, uh, you're welcome, I guess. I'm glad you've got Patty's back."

"Yeah, and about that—the guys might've moved on from it for now, but they're not actually so stupid that they'll forget this forever. Somebody should probably warn Nolan, just give him a heads up." Claude said, serious. “I don’t think anyone’ll be a dick about it, but they might ask him to confirm it.”

There was the captain TK knew and loved. Travis tried to match Claude’s seriousness; this was heavy shit. "Uh, yeah," he said, inane. Close enough.

"I was thinking you might be a good person for that? I could do it, too, as the You Can Play representative and Captain and and all, but I think Nolan might feel more comfortable talking to you."

TK wasn't sure if Claude meant because he and Nolan were buddies, or because of how TK had come out to Claude as "maybe, possibly, I might be, a little, like... bi" last season, or both, but regardless, his answer was the same. "Uh, yeah, sure. I can do that."

Travis put his beer down on the counter, unopened, to go find Nolan and do just that, then thought better of it. He'd need a little liquid courage to have this conversation, to push past the bitch face Patty was sure to greet Travis with for interrupting his Skype sesh.

TK responded to G's quiet, "Great, thanks," with a distracted wave, fishing out the bottle opener from the junk drawer and popping open his beer. He thought about grabbing Nolan one, but, he was pretty sure Patty wasn't supposed to drink, what with the migraines and all. Plus, Travis could always come back; it'd be a decent excuse to escape for a minute if he needed to.

Travis chugged like, half the bottle, then wiped his mouth and started walking towards the hallway. He could hear G talking quietly to someone just outside the kitchen, on the far side of the living room from the rest of the guys, and was briefly grateful G hadn't been using that tone of voice on him, wow. Dude sounded intense.

"—not okay to just out someone like that—," Claude was saying, and oh, he must be talking to Kevin. "—not without their permission, at least, and even then—" he cut off as TK stepped into the hallway, but started talking again when he saw who it was. "TK's gonna give Nolan a heads up, but you still owe him an apology... " his voice trailed off as TK continued down the hall. Kevin had looked properly shamefaced and abashed, at least.

Travis stopped when he got to Nolan's door, pressing his ear against it. He wasn't trying to eavesdrop, he just—wanted to make sure he wasn't... interrupting a private moment, or anything. Patty might actually never forgive him if TK burst in while Patty was having Skype sex.

Silence was all that greeted him, though; Patty had probably fallen asleep. TK didn't bother knocking, not wanting to wake Nolan up if he was napping (lord knew he needed the rest) and gently cracked the door open, peeking inside.

Yep, there was Patty, sprawled out on top of the covers, all too-long limbs and tangled hair, mouth open and snoring lightly. Nolan’s laptop was open, leaning precariously against a pillow near his head, screen facing away from TK at the door. TK stepped inside, easing the door closed after himself, and walked quietly towards the bed.

He rescued the laptop from the pillow, idly glancing at the screen as he went to place it on the bedside table. A Skype window was open, call still connected, showing an empty... office, it looked like. Nothing too obviously identifying, except for—were those jerseys, framed and hung along the far wall? It kind of looked like 'Hawks colors, but TK wasn't sure.

Travis cleared his throat quietly. "Uh, hello?" he whispered, overly conscious of Patty's prone form sleeping next to him, but not sure how else to get the attention of whoever he had been talking to. TK didn't want to just end the call and leave whoever it was hanging if they had just gone to the bathroom or something.

Patty might be a little bitch, but he could be surprisingly considerate, and TK didn't want to make him seem like a dick to whoever he was Skyping on Valentine's. TK was a supportive friend, see.

A beat passed, and then TK could hear footsteps approaching the empty room, and a guy’s frame filled the doorway.

A shirtless guy, part of TK's brain distantly noted, because the rest of his brain was too busy processing the fact that that was Jonathan Toews, right there, and Nolan had fallen asleep Skyping him, and it was Valentine’s Day, and Toews was _shirtless_ and _sweaty_ like he'd been working out, or maybe like he’d—

"Oh, hey," Toews said, voice weirdly flat but still conveying moderate surprise. _Prairie boys_, TK thought, managing to contain his eye roll. _Seriously_.

TK didn't know what to say. "I was just checking on Patty," he tried. "Looks like he fell asleep, though. Didn't want to just leave you hanging."

"Thanks," Toews said, voice soft. "I was gonna check in on him when I finished up with my workout, make sure he didn't nap for too long and mess up his circadian rhythm."

TK didn't know what the fuck a circadian rhythm was, and he wasn't inclined to find out. TK gestured vaguely as he said, "Well, I'm here now. I can keep an eye on him."

"Alright," Toews said, voice mild. "Have a good one, man. Tell him bye for me?"

"Sure," TK said, mouse already hovering over the button to end the call. "I'll let him know."

Toews gave him a smile, closed-lip, and nodded definitively. TK hit the red button and closed the lid of Patty's laptop, looking over at the bed again.

Patty was still sleeping, but he didn't look as peaceful as he had when TK first walked in. His eyebrows were scrunched together, and as TK watched, Nolan started to rub his cheek against his pillow. He was waking up, probably. Would it be weirder if TK woke Nolan up, or if Nolan woke up to see TK had been watching him sleep?

TK was still debating this when Nolan's eyes blinked open slowly, which meant he got to see Nolan's face stretch into this beautiful, uncomplicated smile when he saw TK looking back at him. TK felt ten feet tall and light as air, just from seeing that look on Nolan’s face and knowing it was because of him.

"Hey, bud," Patty rasped, voice always extra deep after waking up.

"Hey," TK said back, grinning uncontrollably.

Nolan blinked some more, then seemed to remember something, and started to frown. "Have you seen my laptop?"

"Oh, yeah," TK said, remembering. "It's right here," he gestured to it, "Jonathan says bye, by the way." He was pretty sure he'd said _Jonathan_ without the mocking inflection he usually used in his own head.

"What?'' Nolan said, coming awake all and once and sitting up abruptly. "You, uh, you talked to him?"

"Just for a sec," TK said, not sure why Nolan was looking frantic but sure he didn't like it.

"Did he... did he, like, say anything?" Nolan asked, and, oh. Right. Nolan was into Toews. Of course Nolan wanted to know if Toews had said anything about him.

"Not really, dude. He wasn't even in the room at first, but I didn't wanna just shut your laptop, so I said hey real quiet, and he walked in." TK glanced at Nolan, who looked like he was hanging on TK's every word. TK wished Patty's intensity was for him alone, not for what he was saying about Toews.

"He was shirtless, too," TK said, giving Nolan a little wink-and-shrug look, suggestive, but it didn't have the expected reaction—Patty looked a little hurt, instead. Maybe that TK had gotten to see Patty’s crush shirtless, and Patty hadn't? He was probably a possessive little fucker, TK mused.

"Said he'd set a timer to wake you up so you didn't mess up your cir-circa—fuck, I dunno, some kind of... rhythm?" TK trailed off into a question.

That got Patty to stop frowning, at least, as he said, "Circadian rhythm, yeah. Dude literally sent me a bottle of melatonin a few weeks back." He rolled his eyes, like that was a ridiculous thing to send someone. TK nodded like he had any idea what Patty was talking about.

"Sure, yeah. Then I told him I'd keep an eye on you, he said to tell you he said bye, and that was that," TK wrapped up.

"He didn't say anything, like... weird, did he?" Nolan asked guardedly.

"Nah, he didn't, but his accent is all weird and flat in the same way yours is, bud," TK chirped weakly. "Why?"

"No reason," Nolan rushed to say, looking away.

That reminded TK, though, of the conversation he’d come here to have, even though he really didn't want to have it.

"Speaking of, though... " he began, then hesitated. Fuck, how should he phrase this? Nolan was going to freak either way, so probably better to just rip the bandaid off and get it over with.

"EarlierKevinoutedyoutotheteamandI'mreallysorry," TK said, all in one breath.

"Uh... what was that?" Nolan was looking kind of pinched around the eyes.

"Um, just that, like, G sent me to tell you that, like, well. Haysie made a joke earlier? About you, like, being in your room Skyping your boyfriend?"

He peeked a look at Nolan, who made an annoyed face and a gesture like, _well, go on._ " ...and then someone asked if he had said you were into dudes?" Nolan was looking decidedly less and less amused with every word TK said. He gulped.

"And then Haysie said yes and that he thought everyone already knew but they didn't but now they do." TK was definitely rushing by the end of it, but it had been clear enough.

"Oh, and then G yelled at Haysie, but not in front of the guys. We changed the topic pretty quick but they probably won't totally forget about it and also have I said I'm sorry yet? Because I'm really, really sorry, Patty." TK forced himself to shut up and look at Nolan, and promptly wished he hadn't.

Nolan looked... Nolan looked like he had after he found out he wouldn't be playing to start the season, after every appointment with a specialist who told him that he wasn't ready to play yet, probably wouldn't be ready to play at all this season.

Only it was worse, because TK was the one to make Patty look like that, make him _feel_ like that, and if TK thought he'd been pissed before, it didn't have anything on how he was feeling now.

"What're you apologizing for," Nolan asked, quiet, not bitchy, just—defeated, almost. "Doesn't sound like you did anything wrong, bud."

TK's anger left him as quickly as it had arrived. Sometimes he thought that was Nolan's super power: calming TK down when there was too much rage in him with no place for it to go but _out_. But TK still wasn't calm, now, even if he wasn't angry anymore. TK was sad, and upset, and he—just felt like shit, really.

TK made himself keep looking at Nolan’s face, even though it hurt him. Nolan was clearly hurting more; the least TK could do was help shoulder his burden.

"I guess I didn’t, but I'm still sorry. That it happened, I guess, and that I didn't say something to shut Haysie up, that I didn't contradict it in front of the guys... I was just so shocked, and, I mean, I'd be pissed if someone outed me like that... '' he trailed off, realizing that he hadn't actually come out to Nolan before, even though he had been meaning to for ages. He maybe kept chickening out.

"You mean... you are? Like, too?" Patty asked, and his voice wasn't quite so morose now, so TK decided he could be brave. For Patty.

"Yeah, man. Or, I'm bi, I dunno about you, but. Yeah. Sorry, I've been meaning to tell you for a while, I just. Wasn't sure how to."

"Yeah, I... me too, I guess," Nolan muttered. "I haven't known that long, not for sure, but I hadn't gotten around to, like, telling people, yet."

"Nobody knows?" TK asked, and continued before Nolan could answer, adrenaline rushing through him. "Rough, man. My family knows, at least, a couple guys from Juniors, and I told G because he's the YCP rep, as practice for telling some of the guys. I hate not having the team know. I can't even imagine how much it'd suck without my folks' support."

"Well, I've told—Jonathan knows, he helped me, like, figure it out, pick a label, whatever, and probably some guys from Juniors figured it out, but... nobody else yet, nah."

TK tried not to feel resentment towards Jonathan for knowing this before he did, but he couldn't help it. it made sense, though, sounded like Patty had maybe messed around with him when he was figuring himself out, which, go Patty! But, god, Travis wished Patty had come to him about it.

Travis determinedly wasn’t thinking about why some of Patty’s Juniors buddies would maybe know; if they were anything like Travis’ Junior buds, they weren’t friends so much as “dudes he’d traded shitty handies with on roadies,” and that was a whole other can of worms Travis wouldn’t be touching until he was alone behind a locked door, thanks very much.

Fuck, Travis should've come out to Patty ages ago. Maybe then Patty would've—TK shut down that line of thought firmly. _Later_, he told himself, _right now, Patty needs you_.

"It's good you've got him, at least," TK said in his softest, most supportive voice, smiling to himself when he saw Patty roll his eyes, "and you've got me, too, now babe." He reached for Nolan's hand, trying not to crack up at the bitchy look he was sporting.

When he'd grabbed Patty's hand, Travis told him, in his soppiest voice, "_I_ support you, Nolan," and finally let himself burst out laughing as Patty went, "Ugh," and physically recoiled. Patty reached to grab a pillow, and TK said, "Wait, wait! Patty, don't you support me, too?" through his laughter. "Patty, Patty, you gotta tell me you're here for me, bud! Queer solidarity!"

"I'll show you queer solidarity, dumbass," Patty muttered, bitchy in the best way, and thwapped TK upside the head. One extended pillow fight later, they were both flushed breathless and laughing, and Kevin was pounding on the door, yelling, "Pipe down, you shits! We're trying to watch The Notebook out here, you're ruining the vibe!"

TK and Nolan burst into bigger gales of laughter at that as Kevin stomped back to the living room; they heard him stop halfway, and stomp back to Patty’s door.

Kevin cleared his throat and said, genuine for once, "Also, Nolan, I'm sorry for being a dumbfuck and outing you to the guys, that wasn't okay," and Patty said, just loud enough for Haysie to hear, "S'okay, bud," and then Kevin walked back to the living room at a normal volume. They heard the movie start faintly in the background as they quieted down, grinning at each other. 

Yeah, they were gonna be okay.

. . . 

The next day in the locker room, Kevin confirmed to the team, basically unprompted, that yes, it was him who got asked at the draft about allegedly taking a dump on his ex's car, and fuck you, G, but yes, he had actually done it.

TK cocked an eyebrow inquiringly at Provy, who told him, "Yeah, we watched 10 Things I Hate About You after The Notebook. I think this is his Heath Ledger on the bleachers moment."

"Ahh," TK nodded. "Makes sense."

Nolan was grinning next to TK, clearly understanding that this was the second half of Kevin's apology. Patty walked over to join the cluster of guys chirping Kevin, ready to accept the apology in true hockey bro fashion: by jumping in with both feet to viciously, publicly shame him. Out of love.

Maybe hockey bros could be subtle sometimes, TK mused, turning around to get changed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> there's been [speculation](https://twitter.com/goaliechants/status/1228184848721821697) that a story contained in [this here article](https://theathletic.com/1023391/2019/06/17/nhl-draft-confidential-10-most-interesting-anecdotes-from-prospect-interviews) about an unnamed prospect getting asked at the draft if he did indeed once shit on his gf's car is actually about kevin hayes. i don't know if it's true, but god does it sound believable.


	3. Chapter 3

TK boarded the plane slowly; it made sense to take the quick flight back from Pitt right after the game, especially since they were doing a home and home and played the next day—or, that day, technically, it was after midnight already—but lord he was tired, sore all over from hard checks and grinding battles in the corners. He thwumped down into the seat next to Patty on autopilot, slumped as he heaved a huge breath, exhausted, and closed his eyes.

At least Pat had traveled with them for this game, since they weren't staying overnight, and the trainers wanted to slowly ease him back into the team's schedule, find any potential migraine triggers now, rather than be suprised by one on the way to a game after he was cleared to play.

Travis felt better after a few moments, opened his eyes and started to shuffle through his things, got out his earbuds and water bottle and stashed his bag in the overhead bin. He looked over at Patty as he settled back in, reclined his seat to match. " 'Sup," he muttered, before noticing Patty already had his earbuds in and couldn't hear shit. TK rolled his eyes.

Patty finally glanced up when TK elbowed him, gave him a little bro nod and then pulled out his phone, angled the screen so TK couldn't see. Patty’s face went all soft as he typed—not as soft as it used to get last season, when the boys would send TK snaps of what they dubbed Patty’s “Teeks face,” but close enough. Now that that look wasn’t being aimed at him, Travis could kind of get why G had seemed to think Travis had a shot with Patty, last season. It sure looked like Patty was into whoever he was texting. TK sighed. It must’ve been Toews.

Travis lowkey expected Patty to offer him an earbud when Nolan pulled his tablet back in front of his face, but no earbud was offered, and the screen was intentionally tilted in a way that Travis would have to crane his neck uncomfortably to see. Travis’s body was already tired, but suddenly he was feeling emotionally wiped, too.

He didn’t think he’d be able to sleep, rarely could on planes, but he tilted his head back and closed his eyes anyway. He didn’t really have the energy for anything else.

Travis woke up with his head resting on Patty’s shoulder. He blinked his eyes open sometime later; the cabin was still dark, so it couldn’t have been too long. He’d managed to doze a little, but he still felt exhausted. He smothered a yawn and glanced around himself; Patty seemed to have relaxed while Travis wasn’t looking. TK could see the screen of Patty’s tablet easily, now, noticed Nolan was watching highlights from… that night’s Blackhawks game, Jesus.

As Travis watched, Nolan’s phone buzzed and he pulled it out, and TK couldn’t see what face Patty was making at it, but could imagine, since it was a text from Toews. Travis knew he should probably close his eyes. Patty probably thought he was still sleeping; he’d angled his screen so TK couldn’t see it before, after all. Travis watched him type instead.

_sick breakaway in the third_, Nolan sent. He kept the screen unlocked, clearly expecting a quick response.

Travis’ eyes skimmed up the thread of texts; twenty minutes ago, as Travis was getting on the plane, Toews sent a _How’s it going, bud?_

Jeez, that must’ve been right after his game had ended. If they weren’t dating yet, they would be soon, if the first thing Toews did after getting off the ice was ask how Nolan was doing.

Nolan’s response was way longer than anything Travis could usually get out of him; he literally could not recall a single time this season that Nolan had double-texted him.

_no migraines today. glad to be w the team even if i cant play yet._ He’d said, then, _saw the score btw, congrats._

Nolan’s phone buzzed with a new text as TK watched. Toews’ response. _Hah, thanks._ He’d literally typed out the “hah,” like an old man. Wow. TK was seriously questioning Nolan’s judgement, here.

He felt Nolan huff a laugh above his head, probably reacting to the same thing. Another text from Toews arrived before Nolan could respond to the first: _How’s TK?_

...Why was Toews asking about TK? They barely knew each other, and certainly weren’t friends. They’d literally only talked to each other once, that time on Valentine’s Day when Nolan fell asleep while Skyping with Toews. This was weird, right?

(TK only ever asked Nolan how Toews was to see Nolan’s cheeks pink up, and because he was being a supportive bff. He didn’t really care about Toews one way or the other, independent of Nolan, but since Patty apparently saw something in the guy, TK would try to find it, too. And even if he couldn’t, he still liked how shy Nolan’s voice got when TK asked.)

(Usually, he didn’t even have to ask. Usually Nolan would just tell him, unprompted. He only gave TK unasked for updates on his family, and now Toews, too.)

TK was still turning all this over in his mind when Nolan started typing out a response, thumbs moving slowly like he was choosing his words carefully—which was weird, TK thought, since Patty was comfortable enough with Toews to double-text him.

_TK’s good_ Nolan typed, then deleted the _good_.

_fine_ he tried next, then deleted it, then _chill_, which, TK hadn’t been chill a day in his life, so he wasn’t surprised when Patty deleted that, too. Then Nolan typed, _legit passed out on my shoulder rn_, which he kept, and added, _guy’s usually like a golden retriever, it’s nice wehn he shuts up for a while_

TK wasn’t sure he liked that second bit, he—well, he’d thought that was Nolan’s, like, pet name for him, or whatever. Something private, just for them. Rather than think about it, he focused on how Nolan thumbed up to correct his spelling, something he had no compunctions about when he was texting TK. TK was a shitty speller in his own right, but he’d gotten more than one text spelled so confusingly that he’d had to actually, physically call Nolan to figure out what the hell he was trying to say. Toews, though, was apparently worth the effort to get it right the first time.

_Lol. I’ll leave you two to your snuggle time, then. ;)_ came Toews’ reply while TK was still mulling over everything. He felt Nolan’s shoulder muscles tense up underneath him, like he didn’t like what Toews said. Like maybe he didn’t like snuggling with TK, even though they used to do it all the time. Or like Nolan wanted Toews to want to snuggle him.

(TK maybe had a habit of yelling, “Cuddle puddle!” and cannonballing onto Nolan’s couch whenever he came over and found Nolan laying on it, swathed in blankets. He'd thought Nolan liked it, but there was a lot of stuff he was reconsidering lately.)

_shut it_ Nolan replied, _and download the emoji keyboard, doofus_

Patty thumbed his phone screen off with a sigh, and TK felt the vibration as Nolan thunked his head back against his seat. Travis was torn; on the one hand, he didn’t really feel up to facing Nolan right now, but on the other, TK really needed a distraction from the thoughts swirling through his head.

He started rubbing his cheek back and forth against Patty’s shoulder, and tried to fake a yawn, which made him yawn for real a moment later. He settled back in more firmly against Nolan, knowing he’d call TK out on it, and wasn’t disappointed when Nolan said, “I know you’re awake, fucker.”

TK yawned again and tilted his head back to blink sleepily up at Patty. “Yeah, but I’m tired, and you’re comfy. Shuddup and lemme sleep, will ya?”

Nolan rolled his eyes dramatically, but then just wiggled a little to get comfortable and shut up as asked. He brought his tablet back up, offering TK an earbud this time, too. TK smiled and took it.

Travis’ smile dimmed as Nolan unlocked his tablet, still showing the Blackhawks highlights, paused about halfway through the video. Before Nolan could hit play, TK mumbled, trying to sound normal and not-jealous, “ ‘Hawks, huh? How’s your boy doing?”

“He’s not my boy,” Nolan said, petulant. Travis rolled his eyes. “Your old man, then,” he corrected magnanimously.

“He’s not that, either,” and Patty was sounding bitchy now. Good, TK thought viciously, and then immediately took it back. He did ultimately want Nolan to be happy, whatever it took to make that happen.

Travis made a conscious effort to sound non-judgemental when he said, “I’m pretty sure he likes you back, dude. You should go for it.”

Nolan put his tablet down, pulled out their earbuds and tucked all of it into the seat pocket in front of himself. They were talking about this, then. Travis sighed and sat up.

Patty did not look amused. “What the fuck are you talking about,” he said, not a question.

TK swallowed, tried to organize his thoughts and gave up immediately. “Like, how you’re into Toews.” Patty’s left eyebrow raised.

“You talk to him all the time, and your face always goes all soft when you do,” Patty’s right eyebrow joined his left, and Travis looked away from his face. “And you talk _about_ him all the time, too. And it’s good that he’s giving you, like, moral support and stuff, but I’m pretty sure he’d be up to, like, support you in other ways, you know? So I just think you should ask him out or whatever.”

Patty seemed to digest this for a moment. “Let me get this straight,” he started, and Travis gulped. “You think I’m into Jonathan Toews.”

TK nodded.

“You think I... have a crush. On Jonathan Toews.”

TK nodded again.

“You think that Jonathan Toews... likes me back.”

TK nodded again.

“You want me to… ask Jonathan Toews… out. On a date.”

TK nodded some more.

Nolan looked at Travis blankly, like he wasn’t even sure where to begin ripping into him. Or like… like he wasn’t even aware he was into Toews. Oh, fuck, what if he hadn’t even realized he was queer yet? But no, that wouldn’t make any sense; TK remembered the Valentine’s Day party. Nolan definitely knew he was queer. Toews had helped him figure it out, he’d said.

TK opened his mouth to start talking again, not totally sure what he was even gonna say, when Nolan held up a hand and made a face that stopped Travis in his tracks.

“No.” Nolan said, “Don’t even start.”

Travis shut his mouth with a gentle clack.

“You are aware Jonathan has a serious girlfriend who he’s been with for years, aren’t you?” Nolan asked, and, no, actually, Travis had not been aware of that. He tilted his head, looking confused but not voicing it, since Nolan still had his hand up.

Nolan sighed some more and rolled his eyes. “Jesus. You’re a dumbass,” he said, meaning it a little more than usual, but Travis could still hear the slightest hint of affection bleeding through. It warmed him; he hadn’t said anything unforgivable, then.

Just then, the fasten seatbelts light came on, and the pilot announced that they were beginning their descent. “We’ll talk about this in the car,” Nolan told him, and Travis nodded meekly.


	4. Chapter 4

Nolan was silent all through disembarking the plane and getting into the car, and waited until Travis had pulled onto the freeway before he spoke.

“I don’t have a crush on Jonathan Toews,” was what he opened with, and Travis startled a little bit at the force behind Nolan’s words.

“O...kay?” Travis asked, not sure why it came out as a question. “Good to… know?”

Nolan rolled his eyes. “Dude, he’s, like, so not my type. Also, again, in a very committed relationship. We really are just friends.”

Travis’ mind was spinning in circles. He was a little embarrassed to have been so off-base, but—“But... but then why—you were Skyping him! On Valentine’s Day! He was shirtless, and all sweaty and stuff!” Travis was rapidly moving on from his embarrassment and towards indignation.

“He wasn’t shirtless while we were Skyping. You’re the one who said he’d been working out after I fell asleep.” Nolan muttered, voice as indignant as it ever got.

“Well, okay, but then you were all, ‘Jonathan helped me figure out I was queer,’ what the fuck did that mean, then!” Travis’ voice kept getting louder.

“He did!” Patty was starting to get heated, too, cheeks flushing. “We talked about it a lot over the summer, he helped me realize who I was into, okay. Why do you even care so much anyway?”

“Why do I—why do I care?!” TK was losing his goddamn mind. “Patty, you’re literally my best friend, of course I care! Also, I’ve thought you were into Toews for, like, weeks, okay, you’re messing with my whole world view! This changes everything!”

“...Why does it have to change things?” Nolan asked, and, whoops, Travis maybe hadn’t meant to say that last bit out loud. He slumped down, the fight going out of him, and focused on the road so he didn’t have to look at Nolan.

“Nothing, whatever. Forget I said anything,” he muttered.

“What the fuck, no.” Patty’s voice was vicious. “You don’t get to—you don’t get to just shut down like that, Teeks, that’s not fair.”

Travis snorted. “Huh, that’s rich, coming from you,” he muttered under his breath.

The car was small, though, and Nolan had ears like a fucking bat, so of course he heard.

“What the fuck does that mean.”

“Just—you’ve been shutting me out for weeks, man, and I figured it was just because you were into Toews now, didn’t wanna spend as much time with me, which was fine, by the way, like it would’ve sucked, but whatever, I could deal if it was what would make you, like, happy. But now you’re saying it’s not that, it’s not about Toews, which means it’s gotta be about me, right, and I just—I just don’t know how to handle that, I guess.”

He sighed, and took the exit to get them to Patty’s place. They’d be there in like three minutes, and then Travis could go home and drown himself in the shower or something and forget this ever happened.

TK glanced at the clock on the dashboard: nearly 2 AM. Fuck, he was exhausted. He just wanted to sleep for a year. He inhaled deep, breathed out as he told Patty, “It’s chill, dude. You don’t gotta say anything. I get it. I know I can be, like, a lot to put up with. You don’t have to—to humor me, or whatever. Can you gimme a couple weeks to, like, adjust to it, though? You might have to remind me to back off sometimes, though, but. We’ll figure it out.”

“What the fuck are you talking about,” Nolan burst out with, like he’d been holding it back a while. The last time Travis saw Patty this worked up, they were both in the middle of earning fighting majors.

Patty wasn’t done. “What are you—what do you mean you’ll back off, that’s—that’s like the last thing I ever want you to do, why would you say that, what’s—” he seemed to run out of steam, and just looked at Travis with a face full of confusion, and a little hurt.

“I mean how I’m—how I feel about you, or whatever. Like, obviously you don’t feel the same way, at least not anymore, and that’s fine. I’ll tone it down. I saw your text to Toews on the plane, about how I’d finally shut up or whatever, so like, it’s cool, you don’t have to tell me, I already know.”

They were pulling into Kevin’s driveway, now, but Nolan didn’t reach to unbuckle his seatbelt, didn’t gather up his shit, just sat there like they were gonna keep talking forever. Travis wondered idly if he should drive back to his place, go inside by himself, and just leave Nolan sitting in his car forever.

“That’s bullshit!” Patty smacked his own thigh for emphasis, making TK jump. “I told Jonathan it was good you were napping, 'cus you’ve been running yourself ragged. Half the time when I’m talking to Tazer it’s because we’re talking about you. He chirps me for it, like, literally all the time.”

Patty had started out yelling like he did when he was getting his ass kicked at Mario Kart, but was practically mumbling by the end of it. The flush on his cheeks had spread up to his ears and down to his neck. TK really wanted to know how far down his chest it went; it was a simple desire, one he was used to, and he wanted to cling to the familiarity with both hands. He wrenched his thoughts back to what Nolan had just told him, though, went back to the swirling uncertainty of this conversation. They fought a lot, all the time, bickered about the same things again and again like an old couple, but they hadn’t had this fight before.

TK... wasn’t sure what to do with Nolan’s statement. “But… why would Toews chirp you about that?” he asked quietly.

Nolan rolled his eyes so hard his whole body moved. “I dunno, probably because I’m always talking about you?” Patty said, his voice and posture defensive.

Travis was still confused. “Okay, but, like, why, though?”

“I dunno, you do funny shit sometimes, I guess,” Nolan muttered, and before Travis could say anything, “If you ever repeat that I’ll deny it.”

Travis let himself smile, tried to find the type of jokingly conceited response he’d normally fire back at Nolan, but this was anything but a normal conversation for them. He came up empty.

Patty looked a little worried that Travis hadn’t said anything, like he wasn’t sure how to get them back on-script, either. He looked around, and seemed to actually take in their surroundings for the first time since they got in the car.

“What the fuck are we doing here,” Nolan asked.

“Uh, we’re at your place, bud. We carpooled, remember?”

“Yes, dumbass, I know we carpooled. But why are we _here_.”

Travis was flummoxed. “Well, it’s late as fuck, buddy. It’s time for bed.”

“No, jackass, it’s time for us to finish this fucking conversation, like I told you we would, and I refuse to do that at Kev’s place. His walls are, like, way too fucking thin.”

Nolan was back to a familiar tone of superiority, and TK bristled at it like he always did. “Well, why didn’t you say something then?” he asked rhetorically. As expected, Nolan didn’t respond beyond rolling his eyes.

Travis started the car again, backing out of Kev’s driveway and onto the road. Luckily, it was a short drive to his place, and Provy was probably over at his girlfriend’s like most nights.

(They had a decent place, TK and Provy, and Provy’s girl had helped decorate, but they were still two guys who lived in hotels half the time. Her place was way nicer, and felt like more of a home. TK didn’t blame Provy for hanging out there, even though it left him kind of lonely, sometimes.)

Patty just leaned his head against the window as TK drove, apparently content to let them stew in silence for now. TK would appreciate the opportunity to process what they’d already said to each other so far, but one car ride wouldn’t be enough time to make a dent in figuring his shit out. He already knew he’d still be chewing on this conversation over the summer as he sat by the lake.

Travis usually thought he was pretty good at dealing with his feelings, but he was starting to realize that wearing them on his sleeve and being open about them wasn’t the same this as fully processing them. Fuck, no wonder Nolan kept talking to Toews about this shit, instead of coming to TK.

Nolan finally looked over as TK pulled up to his and Provy’s place. TK turned off the car and slumped over the wheel for a second while he gathered his strength, then turned to meet Patty’s eyes. The streetlight was shining on him through the car window like a spotlight. He looked otherworldly. TK’s heart thumped in his chest.

“Fuck,” Travis breathed, before he could stop himself. “How are you so goddamn beautiful?”

Shit. TK hadn’t meant to say that, but. He was exhausted, and tired of holding this shit in all the time.

He watched Nolan’s face as he processed Travis’ words, saw the shock, first, and surprise, the way Patty started to blush again, from pleasure this time, the hint of—hope, maybe, in the corner of his eyes.

Patty still didn’t say anything, though, so Travis took another beat to just look at the pleased flush on Nolan’s face, hold it in his memory, before he said, “C’mon, bud. Let’s go on inside.”

They both got out of the car, and Travis led them in through the garage. He flicked on the hall light, but kept the rest off, and moved to the kitchen to chug a bottle of water, got out two more from the fridge and offered one to Nolan, who took a couple sips before recapping it.

“C’mon,” Travis said again, still quiet, and beckoned Nolan down the hall with his free hand. If Patty wanted to finish this conversation, whatever the fuck that meant, Travis would do it, for Patty's sake, but he was also going to get out of his damn suit and sit down somewhere comfy. TK knew he’d definitely end up passing out wherever he was when Nolan deemed they were finished talking, and he didn’t want to sleep on the couch, so bedroom it was.

Travis walked down the hallway, loosening his tie and unbuttoning his shirt while he went. When he got to his room, he didn’t bother hanging up his suit, just let the pieces pile on the floor as he made his way to the bed and collapsed onto it in just his boxers and undershirt.

“I know you wanna talk,” Travis began, then interrupted himself to yawn, “but I am wiped, man. So can you make it quick? I don’t wanna pass out on you, that’d be rude.”

Patty just arched an eyebrow, didn’t have to use his words to say _since when do you care about being rude, asshole_. Travis gave him a sleepy smile; Nolan had a point.

“Okay, but don’t say I didn’t warn you,” TK said, and looked away from Patty to stretch his arms above his head until his t-shirt rucked up. He groaned a little at the pull in his sore muscles before he relaxed again and looked up at Patty, still standing by the door.

And, huh. Patty was blushing again, which—for all that TK, and the whole team, really, chirped Patty about his rosy cheeks, he really didn’t blush that often beyond the natural flush he got when he was working out.

But this was, what, the third—fourth?—time TK had made Patty blush tonight. And if Patty was telling the truth when he said he wasn’t into Toews like that, then maybe… maybe Travis still had a chance, here. He sat up.

“C’mon, babe,” TK said, “come take a load off.” He patted the bed next to him.

Nolan looked conflicted. “I… I don’t know if that’s the best idea,” he said.

Travis frowned. “Why not?” he asked, aware he sounded petulant and frankly, beyond caring. He’d thought that maybe—

“Okay, fine,” Nolan huffed, and taking off his jacket, like it was some kind of trial, sitting next to TK.

“I mean, you don’t have to,” TK started, but Patty dropped to sit on the edge of the bed and take his shoes off before TK could finish. “It’s fine.” Nolan said, clipped.

TK scooted back to lean against the headboard, making sure to leave Nolan’s favorite pillow free next to him. Nolan smiled faintly, like something hurt, when he saw the space with his pillow waiting for him, before he knee-walked up the bed and took his usual spot next to TK, adjusting his pillow like he had a thousand times before.

“So…” TK said, not sure where to begin. “What did you wanna talk about?”

“I don’t even know, man.” Nolan mumbled. “Or, no, I do, I’m just—I’m not good at saying stuff, I guess.” He sounded ashamed, almost. As if TK didn’t already know this, as if TK would ever judge Patty for his perceived shortcomings, when they were what made him _Patty_, made him TK’s favorite person in the world.

“Why don’t you start at the beginning, then, bud?” Travis prompted gently.

“Okay,” Nolan said, and took a deep breath before repeating himself, like he was gearing up for something big. “Okay.”

Travis vowed to hold his tongue, to be patient and let Patty get everything out. This must’ve been building up in him for a while.

“I guess it started…” Patty began, “...well, I’ll start at the beginning of the season.” He took another deep breath.

“It—it sucked, obviously. To have to sit out, and to have my head hurting all the time, to not be in control of my own body. Again.” Nolan’s mouth twisted.

“But at least camp starting meant I could be with the boys. And then Kev asked me if I wanted to move in, because his place was too big, and I figured sure, why not. It would probably be good to have a roommate, and someone, like, looking out for me, while I was out.”

Travis sucked in air through his teeth, but didn’t comment. Nolan ignored him, or didn’t notice.

“It was good to help Kev get settled, too, I could tell he was nervous about being the new guy, especially after all that contract bullshit. And he’s a nice guy, obviously, and he’d told me a little bit about how much it sucked for him in Winnipeg, so I knew he was a social dude, would probably help keep me from getting too in my own head. But that’s not—” Patty took another deep breath, and visibly switched tracks.

“Anyway, that was good, and I like living with him, it was great when his family visited for American Thanksgiving,” and oh, Travis remembered those Insta stories, “but I also really—I guess I, like. I missed you, bud.”

Travis’ breath caught in his throat halfway through an inhale and he narrowly avoided choking, cleared his throat as quietly as he could instead. Had Patty just said—TK looked at him, but Patty had been slowly sliding further down the bed as he talked, and was now slumped with just his shoulders and head propped up against his favorite pillow, so that TK was looking down at the top of this head, for once.

Nolan glanced up at TK briefly, too fast for TK to read anything from his face, before he continued.

“Like, obviously we still hung out, but it sucked not being able to just walk upstairs to bother you, and I actually kinda missed having you just show up at my door unannounced, believe it or not,” and here Patty gave a wry little chuckle, like he was remembering all the times he’d bitched TK out for doing exactly that.

TK didn’t bother to restrain his victorious fistpump and little “Hah! I knew it!” knowing it would make Patty laugh.

It did, and TK felt inordinately pleased with himself over that one, quiet little chuckle.

“Shut it,” Patty said, but he was smiling, so TK knew he didn’t mean it.

“It felt like you guys were always on roadies, and even when I got to skate, it was pretty much always with the scratches and other IR guys,” and now there was a note of genuine pain in Nolan’s voice, and TK couldn’t handle it.

Very softly, TK said, “It felt like that for me, too,” and gently bumped his elbow against Patty’s shoulder.

The far side of Patty’s mouth quirked up. “Yeah,” he said, “at least you didn’t have to deal with the migraines, though.

“It was so—so frustrating, being on my own so much, like—it’s fine in the summer, I like it then, but that’s because I don’t get any time alone during the season. But this season, until like, last month, it just felt like I was alone so much.” Nolan broke off, that residual frustration still evident in his voice.

TK slouched down to get closer to Nolan’s level. “I’m sorry, bud,” he told him.

“And you were—you were—” Nolan’s voice was rising a bit, old hurt layered through it as he struggled to find the right words. TK waited.

“You weren’t there,” Patty finally said, and TK had to consciously clench his jaw so he didn’t gasp out loud. Nolan wasn't done, yet, and Travis was determined to let him finish.

“I was—I was hurt, and frustrated, and mad, and _lonely_—” and, _Oh, bud, _ is what Travis wanted to say, _I had no idea, I’m so sorry_, but he choked it down, because he did know, or he knew enough, at least, and either way it’s not his turn to talk yet.

“—and you weren’t there, and I didn’t know how to ask you to help. I didn’t—I know it’s stupid, but I was so stuck in my head, it was like it took all of my effort just to get up out of bed some days, just to force myself to eat, even on days I had workouts, when I _knew_ I was hungry but I still couldn’t—I just couldn’t—fuck.”

Patty brought a hand up to scrub at his eyes, then turned his head to hide his face in TK’s shoulder, and TK couldn’t take it anymore. He wiggled until he was laying down next to Nolan, tugged at Patty until his head was smushed into TK’s neck, wrapped both his arms around Patty’s huge shoulders and squeezed him tight.

It took a second, but then Patty’s stupid giant hands came up around Travis’ back, too, pulling TK even closer until there was no air between their bodies. Ever so gently, TK started rubbing one of his hands up and down Nolan’s back, letting his fingers sweep from the curve of Patty’s lower back all the way up to brush against the hair at the nape of his neck.

They just held each other, for a minute, as Patty’s breathing slowed back down, matching the tempo of TK’s hand still stroking up and down his spine. When Nolan started moving his face against TK’s chest, TK waited to see if Patty had more to say, but he seemed content to just burrow closer, letting out a deep breath once he had.

It seemed like Nolan was all talked out, at least for now, so TK paused his hand in the middle of Nolan’s back, using both arms to give Patty an extra-tight squeeze.

He spoke into the top of Nolan’s head, quiet but forceful, “I am so sorry, Patty. I knew it was tough for you, this season, but I—I didn’t have any idea it was like that. If I’d know how bad you—how bad it was for you, how hard, I would’ve been there in an instant.”

TK took a deep breath, and Nolan stayed silent, so Travis added in a whisper, “I missed you so much, the whole time. It was so hard, giving you space, I thought—we—the guys thought you didn’t want us around, like maybe it’d remind you of what you couldn’t have, or something, but that was bullshit, wasn’t it?”

Travis felt Patty nod against his chest, a small, contained movement.

“Fuck,” he exhaled, “I’m sorry, babe. I wish I’d known, I should’ve—God, I should’ve actually asked you what you needed, I don’t know why I didn’t. It’s not like I ever let you hide from me before, eh?” he asked, jostling Patty a little and trying for a smile. It felt weak, like if he looked in a mirror he’d see it didn’t reach his eyes.

“I really thought—well, I thought a lot of shit, but I guess most of it was pretty wrong. You really are the brains of this operation, huh?” TK rubbed his nose back and forth against Nolan’s hair playfully. He felt Patty press a smile into his neck briefly, and grinned victoriously.

“But, hey, there’s no point living in the past, ‘cus if you are then there’s no way that you’re gonna last, eh?” Travis asked, not even realizing he’d quoted that stupid fucking Wheat Kings song until Patty pulled his head back just far enough to peer up at TK.

“Did you just… did you just quote song lyrics at me?” Patty asked, disbelieving.

“Uh, well, I… I might’ve, yeah.” Travis hedged.

“It’s your fault, bud,” he said, pretending to complain, “you’re the one who made me stalk your Spotify, because you told the media you hated guys asking how you were doing, and how was I supposed to see that you were following _Jonathan Toews playlist_ and not check it out, and then there was a song that was _clearly_ about you, bud," TK was really hamming it up, now, "and okay, maybe it was more my fault for reading into it so much, but I still maintain that you—” TK finally managed to regain control of his own mouth, but only because he was shocked into it by Patty's startled peal of laughter.

Nolan had thrown his head back, cackling—no, _guffawing_—like an absolute madman, laughing harder than TK could remember ever seeing him laugh before.

“You—are you telling me you—” Patty couldn’t even get a full sentence out, he was laughing so hard. TK started giggling too, mostly at the absurdity of the situation, but it turned into his own uncontrollable cackling soon enough.

They were—God, TK was an _idiot_, he had actually _stalked his best friend’s Spotify account_ instead of just talking to him like a normal human, what the fuck. It was absolutely ridiculous.

Patty didn’t seem to mind, either, thank God, had obviously seen the absurdity in the situation, too, and TK was so relieved, and so overjoyed, that he could still get Nolan to laugh like this, carefree and overwhelmed by his own amusement.

They quieted down eventually, laughter trailing off into the occasional quiet giggle and snort, because it really had been a long day, and they really were exhausted after having such a tense, emotional conversation.

TK still wasn’t sure exactly where they stood with each other, but for the first time in a while, he found he didn’t really mind. They were here now, and that was what mattered most; Patty rolled back onto his side from where he'd splayed out on his back while he laughed uncontrollably, facing TK again now, and Travis slung an arm over his waist, pulling him in snug.

“Cuddle puddle?” Patty asked, shy, like TK would ever say no, and TK's heart felt like it was gonna burst.

“Fuck, I missed you,” TK said, raw, too honest, and this time it was TK who buried his face in Nolan’s neck,.

“Missed you, too,” Nolan said, then made a sound like he was trying to spit TK’s hair out of his mouth, which got a chuckle out of both of them, but they were too tired for it to set them off again.

“I can’t believe you—” Patty started, and TK felt no remorse about cutting him off to say, “Oh, shut up, jerkface,” pressing his grin to Patty’s neck like Patty had done to him earlier so he’d know TK didn’t mean it.

“I’m just saying—” TK could hear the grin in Patty’s voice, and ruthlessly interrupted him again.

“I still have a question, though,” he said, his voice getting a little serious. “If you’re not into Toews, then—who are you into?”

Travis didn’t realize he’d been holding his breath as he waited to hear what Nolan would say, but he inhaled deeply with Nolan as he prepared to answer.

“I think you know, bud,” Patty said, every word perfectly enunciated for once.

TK pushed his face out of Nolan’s neck so he could look him in the eye. “I don’t, though! I thought I did, right, but apparently I was wrong, so now I don’t trust my own judg—”

“Travis.” Patty interrupted, voice serious. “Travis. Teeks.” TK loved how his name sounded, coming off Nolan’s lips.

“Teeks, you gotta know. It’s been—it’s been so obvious, I know like, all the guys know, okay, I saw all the same snaps they sent to the group chat about the stupid face they always say I make—”

“Yeah, the face you—the face you kept making at _Toews_, I thought I was gonna loose my mind, I thought that face was for _me_, but there you were rubbing it in my—”

“What even, you idiot, it _is_ for you, never tell the guys I said that—”

“Then why were you pointing it at your stupid texts from stupid _Jonathan_ all the time—”

“Because I was _telling him about you_, oh my god, how many times do I have to say this—”

Travis blinked. “Wait, you—you were?”

“Yes, idiot,” Patty sounded ridiculously exasperated for someone who was allegedly talking to their crush, “that’s what I keep _telling you_, would you—mmph.”

There was nothing dignified about the way Travis surged up to kiss Patty; it was more like he just planted his mouth on top of Nolan’s, but he couldn’t wait a second longer once he figured out what Patty was saying.

He’d—Patty had—Patty had been making that soft face, the one TK loved so much, at Toews, sure, but only because Patty’d been talking _about_ TK, because Patty was into TK, and TK just had to kiss him, didn’t know the words so he had to find another way to use his mouth to communicate what he was feeling.

Travis was so full of love for this stupid prairie boy, for _his_ stupid prairie boy, because there was no fucking way Travis was going to let go of Patty any time soon, not after this.

Patty nipped at TK’s lower lip, pulling Travis back to the present, to how his _mouth_ was touching _Patty’s mouth_, and the kiss had kind of sucked at first but oh, boy was it getting good.

Travis opened up a little, getting everything a little slicker, wetter, bringing one hand up to grasp the side of Patty’s face and tangle in his hair, the other sliding down to clench at his hip desperately. Nolan moaned, just for a second, and TK _felt it_, felt it vibrate between their mouths as TK moaned, too.

TK felt Nolan’s hands roaming across his body like Patty wasn’t sure where to put them, one grabbing onto TK’s bicep and one caressing the back of his head before Patty got a fistful of TK’s hair and _tugged_. Travis felt that in his dick, and his hips twitched forward without his permission, grinding up against the thigh Patty had shoved between TK’s legs and making Travis moan again.

He felt Patty chuckle, the bastard, and whined when Patty pulled away to tell him, “Of course you’re still loud, even when your mouth is busy,” and TK couldn’t not chirp back, but couldn’t stop kissing Nolan for long enough to do so, either.

He started pressing kisses and little nips across Nolan’s jaw, words interspersed between them, “You—have—no—idea—babe,” and was gratified when Patty groaned like he was thinking of what else TK’s mouth could do, and tilted his head back, opening up his neck for TK to explore.

TK wasn’t tired, anymore, was feeling rather energetic, in fact, but he knew it was temporary, and wouldn’t last once he’d gotten off. He was too worked up, too, to make it last, had tried not to think about what Patty’d be like in bed when he’d jerked off but had never found anything that could get him off quicker than imagining Patty losing control, than the idea of _TK_ making Patty lose control, overcome with pleasure, and now he had Patty in his arms, in his bed, and, yeah, it would be a miracle if TK got out of his boxers before he shot off like a teenager with no self-restraint.

Patty’s neck was covered in little red marks, now, none of them dark enough to bruise, TK didn’t think, even as he wished they would. He wanted Nolan marked up, wanted to the guys to see them in the locker room and know TK had put them there—but Patty probably wouldn’t like that, and TK would have to ask, first, and in the meantime, he was focused on getting Nolan’s shirt off so TK could finally see how far down that blush went.

Nolan’s whole chest was flushed with splotchy patches of red, from his neck to the waist of his pants, where TK could see the curve of his hard dick, could see the evidence that Nolan was just as worked up as TK.

“I want to fucking devour you,” Travis said, too turned on to care about what he said, and dove back in to meet Nolan’s mouth so he didn’t try to faceplant on Patty's dick instead. “How do you—What do you wanna do?” TK asked, because if he’d learned anything tonight, it was the importance of communication.

“Anything, I don’t—” Nolan moaned, breathy, and somehow had it together enough to roll his eyes at the smug look on TK’s face.

Well. TK wasn't doing his job right, if Nolan was still capable of being a little shit.

TK’s left hand had returned to Patty’s hip; he slid it around to grab a handful of ass as TK rolled himself on top of Nolan, grinding their dicks together.

This time, when Nolan moaned, he still rolled his eyes, but it was in pleasure. TK grinned and laid a line of stinging kisses along Patty’s collarbone.

“God, lemme—wait, lemme—” TK immediately rolled off Nolan, worried he’d gone too far too fast. Nolan quirked a smile at him, though, looking completely debauched and quite satisfied about it, and said, “I don’t wanna come in my suit pants, that’s all.”

TK breathed out, relieved, and said, “I can help you with that,” trying to look sexy and alluring and mostly failing.

Nolan laughed, which was its own kind of victory, so TK wasn't too offended.

He watched as Nolan popped the button on his slacks and pulled the zipper down, and had to put a hand on his own dick, a little _down, boy_ at the sight of Nolan’s hips lifting off the bed to shimmy out of his pants.

There was an obvious wet spot on Patty’s boxer briefs, at the head of his dick, and Travis didn’t even think before he had his hand on it, just reached out on pure impulse. He stroked up and down through Nolan’s boxers a couple times, entranced by the way it made Nolan toss his head back and his eyelashes flutter.

“Come—Get back up here, Teeks,” Patty said, and TK couldn’t do anything but obey. He crawled over Nolan’s body, trapping him with a knee pressed against each side, forearms framing Patty’s stupid, beautiful face, and just looked at him for a moment, taking it all in.

For once, Patty was the impatient one; he got one hand on TK’s ass, and one tangled in TK’s hair, and _pulled_, so that TK was sprawled over him, hips aligned, mouths trading gasping kisses again.

TK thrust cautiously against Patty, and oh, that felt good, did it again, and watched Patty’s eyes close, kept going and started to find a rhythm as Patty’s hips started twitching up to meet him.

It felt like no time at all before they had found a deep, rolling rhythm, before TK was so zeroed in on the feeling of Patty’s dick moving against his own that he had to break the kiss and just pant wetly against Patty’s jaw.

“You’re so—” Nolan said, and moaned, long and low, instead of finishing his thought

“Close,” TK whined, and bit down on Patty’s neck, too far gone to remember to care about marks.

“Oh, that feels—shit, that feels so good,” Nolan groaned, hand tightening in TK’s hair to hold him there against Patty’s neck.

Nolan sounded as overwhelmed as TK felt; between Patty’s hand pulling at his hair, Patty’s fingers digging into his ass, Patty’s skin under his teeth, Patty’s dick rubbing against his own just right, Patty Patty _Patty_, it was all TK could do not to come right then and there.

“I’m gonna—” he managed to say, gasping, his hips falling out of rhythm because it all felt so goddamn good, and, “Good, do it,” Patty said, “Come for me, right now, mess me up, come on—”

It was like Patty had reached into TK and yanked his orgasm right out of him; his dick spurted as his hips twitched erratically against Patty’s, and TK let Patty take control of both their bodies while he rode out his orgasm.

He came back to himself with his teeth gently gnawing at the side of Patty’s neck; he let go, and, whoops, that was definitely going to be a noticeable hickey tomorrow. TK couldn’t find it in himself to care.

His boxers were all sticky, now, and that was definitely going to be gross sooner rather than later, but for now—TK rolled his hips experimentally, and, woah, that made his dick twitch again, oversensitive, but it also made Patty’s hips thrust up forcefully, like he was so far gone he couldn’t control himself, and _that_ was quite possibly the hottest thing TK had ever seen.

TK used the last of his energy to push up onto his forearms and look down at Patty, and was immediately glad he did.

Patty looked like every fantasy TK’d ever had come to life. He was flushed all over from arousal, his long neck arched, marks from TK’s teeth on prominent display. Patty’s dick was absolutely _straining_ at his shorts, so long the tip of it was poking up past the waistband, the head glistening with pre and positively _begging_ for TK to put his mouth on it.

TK couldn’t wait; invigorated, he dove for Patty’s dick mouth-first, soaking the fabric through as he messily licked Patty from root to tip. Patty hissed, trying to get that tip into TK's mouth but getting stymied by his stupid underwear.

Both of Patty’s hands were grabbing at TK’s head, now, fingers clenching tight in his hair just how Travis liked, but not yanking, not even really pulling, and, “You know you can pull my hair, right?” TK checked, taking the opportunity to bring his hands up and yank Patty’s boxers down just far enough to get at his dick. “I’m into it,” he said, and didn’t wait for Patty to respond before he dove back in.

He heard Patty groan in response, and then again as TK took Patty’s dick into his mouth, heard Patty start to say, “I’m—fuck, holy shit, Teeks—I’m—I’m gonna—” TK just hummed around Patty’s dick, not really caring what Patty had to tell him unless it was _stop_ or _no_ or _wait_.

Suddenly, though, Patty’s hands, still fisted in TK’s hair, yanked once, then again, as Patty muscled TK off his dick. TK got a hand around Patty to keep stroking him as he opened his mouth to ask Patty what the fuck he thought he was doing, but then Patty said, “Oh, God, Travis,” and started coming, right onto TK’s face.

TK’s hand kept working Patty through it on autopilot, without any input from his brain, and his mouth kept hanging open, mostly out of shock but a little bit from the desire to get his mouth back on Patty’s dick.

The first splash of Patty’s come landed half in TK’s mouth, half on his chin; the next got him across the cheek, the third striped his jaw and dripped down his neck. TK was glad, absently, that he hadn’t got hit in the eye, that he’d gotten to watch Patty’s dick kick in his hand, feel it pulse as he came, but also—

“I would’ve let you come in my mouth, babe,” he said, “I’d swallow. For you.”

“Jesus, Mary, and Joseph,” Nolan groaned, and his dick kicked again in TK’s hand like it wasn’t done after all. Patty brought one hand up to pinch at the bridge of his nose like he only did when he was so overwhelmed he started swearing like an old church lady.

TK had made him do that. He grinned as he finally released Patty’s dick, gave it a fond little pat, and pillowed his head on Nolan’s thigh. TK knew Nolan had thick thighs—like, he was a hockey player, duh—but wow. Damn. Nolan had _really_ thick thighs. _Double cheeked up_, TK thought with a snort, and sighed dreamily as he settled in, ready to sleep.

“What the fuck are you—Get up here,” Nolan commanded, getting his hands under TK’s arms and hoisting him up the bed.

“You could be a little nicer to the guy who just sucked your dick, you know,” TK informed him primly, eyes still closed. He snuggled into Nolan’s chest, patting vaguely around their waists in hopes of the covers materializing within his reach.

Patty sighed in a way that TK knew meant he was rolling his eyes, and dislodged TK, ignoring his whine, to grab the covers and drag them over the both of them. “See?” Patty asked pointedly, “I’m plenty nice.”

“Mhmm, yeah you are,” TK said, nosing into what might have been Patty’s armpit and already forgetting what they were talking about. “That’s why I love you.”

Travis felt Patty freeze, but didn’t worry about it. He was warm, and comfy, and had just sucked Patty’s brain out through his dick. TK didn’t have a care in the world.

“Oh,” Patty said, like he was afraid he might spook TK. “Well. I, uh. I also, uh—that. You. Um.”

TK wormed a hand free of the covers to flap against Patty’s mouth. Or cheek. Close enough.

“Shhh,” TK told him, “I know. Words are hard, you big caveman. Sleep now.”

TK felt Patty’s disbelieving chuckle more than he heard it, already most of the way asleep.


	5. epilogue

The next morning, TK woke up because his pillow sneezed. That was certainly unusual for him, so he blearily opened his eyes and realized his pillow was, in fact, Patty’s chest. Which TK had maybe been drooling on. Whoops?

TK peered over at the clock—afternoon, then, since they’d gotten in so late the night before—and stretched luxuriously, wincing a little where dried semen was crusted into his shorts and pulling at his pubes. He reached for a real pillow, going to wipe the drool of Patty’s chest, but stopped, concerned, as he heard a sound not unlike a cat horking from above him.

He peered up, and saw Nolan, eyes barely slitted open, trying to spit TK’s hair out of his mouth without using his hands.

Well. Showers for everyone, then.

TK sat up fully, pulling his hair out of range of Patty’s mouth in the process, and grinned down at him.

“Hi, babe,” TK said, letting his voice get as syrupy-sweet as it could.

Nolan grumbled something that sounded suspiciously like, “what have I done.” TK chose to ignore it.

“If you come shower with me I’ll suck your dick again,” he cajoled, and felt Nolan’s morning hardon twitch against his thigh in interest.

“And,” TK sweetened the pot, “this time you don’t have to pull me off your dick before you come out of some misplaced sense of chivalry.”

Nolan’s eyes opened further, but he still looked unconvinced. Time to pull out the big guns, then.

“Provy’s doing a thing with his girl today. After we’re clean we can go have a cuddle puddle on the couch and I’ll braid your hair and tell you I love you again. You can even be the little spoon.”

Patty rolled his eyes like he was unimpressed, but he also got up _and_ slapped TK’s ass on the way to the shower, so TK was gonna call it a win.

**Author's Note:**

> and we're done! thanks for reading!
> 
> concrit is super duper appreciated, if you have any to offer. i would love to hear from you!
> 
> you can also find me on tumblr at tbeauty4, and i have finally created a burner twitter acct @jongles3

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [[podfic] Wheat Kings and Pretty Things](https://archiveofourown.org/works/27562603) by [hedgehockey](https://archiveofourown.org/users/hedgehockey/pseuds/hedgehockey)


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